Textile print wash blanket



April 24, 1956 .1. VERDUIN 2,743,206

TEXTILE PRINT WASH BLANKET Filed Jan. 27, 1950 gjwv ewboz/ John Usralu/im/ 2,743,206 TEXTILE PRINT WASH BLANKET John Verduin, Hawthorne,N. 1., assignor to W. Grace & Co., New York, N. Y., a corporation ofConnecticut Application January 27, 1950, Serial No. 140,850 1 Claim.(Cl. 154-54.5)

This invention relates to an improved process of and apparatus fortextile web printing and, in particular, to

textile printing wherein an anti-smut web is run adjacent the textileweb during printing.

An anti-smut web, sometimes referred to in textile printing as a backgrey, is employed adjacent the textile web for the purpose ofcontrolling excess ink which may pass through the textile duringimpression or which may pass around the textile material at the selvageedge. The back grey, usually a woven, highly absorbent cloth, is runfrom a supply'reel to a rewind reel and is used and re-used after theink dries thereon until it is substantially filled with color, at whichstage it can'no longer serve a useful purpose as an absorbing medium. Atthis point the grey must be washed and dried, and after repeated washingand drying it becomesprogressivelymore difficult to return the materialto a serviceable condition; and it therefore becomes expedient to stitchnew material to the expiring end of the'old grey and thread a new greyinto the machine. These practices are well known in the art of textileprinting and need not be further elaborated upon.

Under the grey, the impression cylinder may be covered with a yielding,non-absorbent blanket which may envelop the cylinder as an integral partthereof, or may be fed as a web to the cylinder beneath the grey and thetextile web respectively. Blankets for textile printing are usually madeof rubber or a suitable syntheticsubstitute or a combination of rubberand cloth and they may have an embossed surface to provide depressedareas for the accumulation of excess ink or color, or for aninkabsorbing talc in instances where such material is used to preventsmudging. I

The back grey has been a partucularlyunsatisfactory expedient because ofits high cost and non-uniform absorbing quality after repetitive use. Toalleviate this condition various substitutes have been proposed as, forexample, the application of ink absorbing tale to the surface of theblanket as mentioned above prior to printing and the removal of thepowder after printing according to the technique of Ross described in U.S. Patent No. 2,434,013. In this case the blanket is made endless, thepowder serving to absorb the excess coloring material which issubsequently washed oif the blanket. A further substitute method,according to the technique of Ebersol in Patent No. 1,639,218, residesin the use of a non-absorbent grey of metallic gauze wherein it isintended that all excess color shall be carried on the surface of thegauze.

The object of the present invention is to improve and simplify thetechnique of textile anti-smut printing. Accordingly, I make use of thephysical properties of a partially absorbent woven material such asnylon or orlon for an improved grey, but run the grey as an integralsurfacing of an endless, deformable blanket trained at one end of itsloop between the impression printing cylinder and the fabric beingprinted. The other end of the loop is directed through a Washer anddrier so that the grey reaches the printing position always in a clean,

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renewed material. To attain the maximum efiiciency, the nature andbonding of the components of the woven grey is precisely regulated sothat the maximum surface area of the cloth is presented wherebysufficient ink or color may be carried thereon consistent with theoptimum gageof thread necessary to elfect sharp printing without awafile pattern result. Asa point of greater utility, the nylon or othersemi-absorbent material may face both sides of the blanket in order thateither side of the blanket,

may be utilized and so that the web may be'reversed after a period ofwear has reduced the anti-smut surface below a prescribed ink retaininglevel.

The polyamides referred to herein are those describedin U. S. Patents2,071,250, 2,130,523 and 2,130,948 and are commercially known as nylon.

Details of my'invention will best be understood by reference to thedrawing forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is adiagrammatic side elevation View showing a textile printing apparatuswith which the method of my invention may be practiced, and

.Figure 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the combined blanketand anti-smut web used with the textile printing machine of Figure 1. 1

Referring to Figure 1, the textile printing machine 10 at the right handside of the view includes an impression cylinder 11 of usual proportionwith which are associated a series of radially spaced color printingstations 12 arranged around the lower portion thereof. Suitableframework, trunnions, drive and auxiliaries are applied to form atextile printing press of an. order which is well known in the art oftextile printing. An endless combination blanket and anti-smut grey 13is trained directly to the impression cylinder for that portion ofthe'cylinder peripheryxlocated between printing stations, to serve, inpart, as a supporting medium for the web of unprinted textile material14, the latter of which is directed to th press from a supply roll 15.

The web of unprinted material 14 leading from supplyroll 15 is firstdirected up to the bight of a pair of intermittently operating powerdriven feed rolls 16, from whence it drops tothe long end of a J shapedcollector box 17. supported with reel 15 on framework 18 and" designedto contain an intermediate supply of textile to. be printed and to thusprovide for changeover from an expiring supply reel to a new reelWithout interrupting printing. Upon being drawn out from the short endof J collector box 17, web 14 traverses a pair of tensioning anddirectioning rollers 19, adjustably fixed to frame 18, and then extendsupwardly to a series of three spaced rollers 20 which regulate the webtension preparatory to its being directed via guide rolls 21 to theimpression cyl-L' inder 11. After printing the web runs upwardly fromthe press to a suitable drying tower, not shown, and is thereafterredirected downwardly at the left via suitable rolls 21 to a gatheringroller 21" before reaching the re- The combination blanket and anti-smutgrey 13, as has been indicated, is an endless, looped web element whichtravels with the rigid impression cylinder 11 between the cylinder andtextile web on one end of its loop. As it leaves cylinder 11, element 13is directed upwardly and to the left across the top of the printingmachine framework over a series of spaced guide rollers 23. At the endof its leftward travel, element 13 is directioned downwardly, passingunder the large roller 24 constituting an element of a washing machine25 in which are suitable. scrubbing and cleaning devices arranged to ridthe surface of any ink or other coloring material which may have beenabsorbed or otherwise carried thereby from printing. Washer 25 containssuitable apparatus and fluid as are required to perform the necessarycleaning operation.

Leaving roller 24, web. element 13 is subsequently trained upwardly andto the right over a plurality of larger heated drying drums 26 incontact with the ink absorbing face thereof, and under a series ofsmaller intermediate heated drying drums 27. in contact with the webface which applies against the impression cylinder; theipurposeof thedrying drums-being to drive otf'moisture or liquid retained on thesurfaces after the web passes out of washer 25. From the final dryingdrum 26 at the right hand end of the series, element 13 is, trainedunder and over a staggered group of guide rollers 23' to a positionabove the impression cylinder 11 from whence it maybe directeddownwardly to the. cylinder for the printing operation.

An important feature of my invention resides in the arrangement of thecombination blanket and anti-smut web 13 as illustrated in detail inFigure 2. Herein is shown a flexible, deformable, fluid impervious basematerial 30, such as synthetic rubber, within which are embedded aplurality of layers of textile material 30r, the latter of which willimpart qualities of strength and sta-. bility to the web. Facing bothsides of the web 13 and, bonded therewith are additional layers oftextile woven material 31 to serve as a carrier for excess ink which maypass through the textile during printing. I prefer to use cloth wovenfrom threads of a super polyamide like nylon for layers 31 of the orderor" 210 denier in which the warp consists of- 60 ends double and thefilling 42 ends double, weighing approximately 6.40 oz. per square yard.As a substitute for nylon, the cloth may be made from apolyacrylonitrile fiber such as Orlon. It will be noted that the threadsforming the textile layers 31 are embedded very slightly in thesynthetic rubber base 30 to the extent of approximately only of theweave. In this manner, a major portion of the thread surface remainsapart from the material in which it is embedded, thus presenting aslarge a cloth area as is possible upon which ink or coloring materialmay be absorbed and otherwise accumulate as the blanket passes under thetextile web 14 during printing; while at the same time providing anadequate bond where by there will be no separation of the cloth from thebase during printing or cleaning. I employ nylon or orlon or a similarplastic thread by reason of the property of semi-absorption of inkvehicle or washing fluid as compared with cotton or other standard backgrey constituent.

. Due to this limited absorption quality, it may be made integral withthe yielding blanket and from a practical standpoint may be readilycleaned and dried before it is returned to the impression cylinder forsubsequent print- It is important that the overall thickness of thecombination blanket, anti-smut element be carefully maintained and thatit be consistently uniform in texture. Registration of the several colorimpressions would otherwise be affected if non-uniformity. were presentand a poor grade of printing would result. It is, likewise, importantthat the deformable base material have the property of healing orreforming after impression in order that the printing conditions for therepetitive cycles remain constant.

In practice, the anti-smut blanket passes around the impression cylinderat one end of the loop serving both as a deformable backing for theusual irregularities of textile printing and carrying with it the web ofmaterial to be printed upon. Any. ink passing through or around thetextile is either absorbed by or carried on the surface of cloth facing31. Being an endless blanket, this process may be operated continuouslyduring the entire run of textile fabric printed, and, since the blanketis completely renewed during the washing and drying operation, the possibility for smudging or off-set from the blanket to the under side ofthe textile being printed is eliminated.

I claim:

A web-like material for use as a combined blanket and anti-smut gray intextile printing comprising, in combination, a flexible, fluidimpervious base material, and at least two reinforcing textile layerscompletely imbedded within opposite surfaces of the base material, and asemi-absorbent textile layer facing the base material on at least onesurface of the latter,said last-mentioned layer consisting of a superpolyamide having 210 denier and having a warp of ends double and fill of42 ends double of' a fineness suflicient to avoid a pattern on a printedtextile, said secondmentioned textile layer being adhered to the base toan extent of approximately 10 percent of the surface area of thethreads, leaving a major portion thereof for the mechanical retention ofvehicle and color during the printing process.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 33,510Baker Oct. 22, 1861 189,868 McBurney Apr. 24, 1877 2,080,133 Jenkins May11, 1937 2,130,948 Carothers Sept. 20, 1938 2,175,051 Bromley Oct. 3,1939 2,222,143 Farnsworth et al Nov. 19,, 1940 2,252,554 Carothers Aug.12 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 416,373 Great Britain of 19.34 481,587 GreatBritain Mar. 11, 1938 OTHER REFERENCES Plastics by J. H. DuBois,American Technical Society, publishers, 1943, pp. 138, 139 and 140.

Nylon, A Versatile New Produce of Chemical Research; published byDuPont, Wilmington, Delaware (1940).

